The moment John Tor torella walks through the door of the Ranger locker room today to take command, that will be the end of the excuses and that will be the end of the crutches for a team whose players sure didn’t seem very sorry to see Tom Renney go yesterday.

The Rangers have hired John Tortorella to be their next head coach in the wake of this morning’s dismissal of Tom Renney.

GM Glen Sather made the announcement several hours after Renney’s dismissal this morning. Tortorella, who received a multiyear contract, was en route to New York tonight and likely would run tomorrow’s practice.

added 8:21pm, from Scott Burnside of ESPN,

There is little in the way of top-end talent coming through the Rangers system, which you can thank Sather for as well, and too much overpaid, underachieving weight on the big-league roster.

As one GM told ESPN.com on Monday, “Who’s going to take those contracts?”

That’s a recipe for misery at the NHL level, and it’s the stew Sather built.

If there was any accountability in the Rangers’ boardroom (and the fact Sather has managed to consistently squander Dolan’s money all these years suggests there is none), then the moment this season ends, the search will begin for someone who can make things right in a place that has gone so wrong, and will be wrong for a long time coming.

Sources say the New York Rangers and John Tortorella have an agreement in place that would make him the next head coach of the NHL team, but that the Tampa Bay Lightning have not yet been contacted for permission.

added 3:30pm, According to Steve Zipay, it is a multi-year deal and the Lightning want compensation.

Update 12:13pm - On Fan590, Nick Kypreos is suggesting that John Tortorella is being targeted by the Rangers as a replacement.

added 1:08pm, from Mark Hermann of In the Crease at Newsday,

Renney addressed the team in what was an emotional session, players said. Lundqvist agreed with the notion that it is odd inasmuch as, earlier in the season, Renney was considered maybe the top coach in the league. “He didn’t change,” the goalie said, adding that it is a results business and when the results aren’t there, changes have to come.

Wade Redden felt it personally, acknowledging that Renney always was loyal to him despite his struggles, and implied that he owes it to his now-former coach to step it up and justify that faith.

Sather was asked whether coach Tom Renney’s job is safe, whether the head coach who has taken the Blueshirts to the playoffs in each of his three full seasons behind the bench, would be on the ice for the club’s next practice session.

“I’m not going to get into that. You know that,” the general manager told The Post. “I’m not going to talk about that at all.”

Sather similarly deflected a question about his intentions regarding Sean Avery, who remains in Hartford on loan from Dallas.

“Sean is another team’s property,” Sather said before bobbing and weaving when asked when and if he would ask the Stars to place the winger on re-entry waivers so the Rangers could claim him.

“It’s more complicated than that,” Sather said. “There are cap issues. There might be other things going on that no one knows about….”

more and watch below for post-game reaction from Renney, Lundqvist and Drury.

Miller is out of the lineup indefinitely after suffering a left ankle sprain during the Sabres’ 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday.

“It’s stiff and it’s tender,” Miller said after limping to his locker stall in HSBC Arena. “These are things you have to kind of feel out. There’s no timetable, really. It’s your comfort level….

The injury happened 1:54 into the third period. Miller went behind the net to retrieve a New York dump-in, and Scott Gomez chased the puck. As Miller played it around the boards, Gomez crashed into the netminder’s right leg, simultaneously twisting the opposite ankle….

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff didn’t hide his anger for Gomez.

“I don’t think there’s any secret it was deliberate,” Ruff said. “He knew what he was doing.”

With the NHL trade deadline two weeks away, Western Conference teams are scoping out the Rangers—and vice versa.

But pressed up against the salary cap, the Rangers can probably only tweak their roster, possibly adding the Stars’ Sean Avery if the former Broadway pest is not grabbed on recall waivers on a team below them in the standings. They also could sign a low-rent defenseman, especially with Paul Mara’s injured shoulder expected to keep him out or performing well under 100 percent until past the deadline….

The Rangers can’t afford to open it up more with defensemen who have minimal offensive ability. They cannot pretend that Markus Naslund is any longer the player he was in Vancouver, nor can they expect that veteran B or B-plus players will morph into team-carrying players this late in their careers.

Sather, responsible for this big miscalculation, can keep Zherdev, an upcoming restricted free agent, or save that cap room for somebody more often going to show up.

But unless the Rangers swallow Redden’s cap-choking contract for five long years, there will be little maneuverability to sign the level of scorer the team badly needs.

So it turns out yesterday’s 5-2 Garden loss to the Flyers was not the most damaging of the day for the Rangers.

Because the Blueshirts also lost Paul Mara, who for the bulk of the season has been the team’s best and most inspirational defenseman, when his right shoulder popped out as he tried to throw a punch while fighting with Aaron Asham, 6:14 into the third period.